As to

The first bit about the daughter being thrown off the team for not joining in the team prayer is sad but all to common.

Really..? common ??

Bias against atheists is probably as common as racism or sexism in the US, though it is hard to judge exactly*. And it seems to be getting worse as wearing your religon on your sleeve becomes the norm for many Christians.

What we can compare is bias against atheists to bias against other relgions. And polls show that atheists are most biased against major religous group. Even more so then jews or mormons.

Jay

* And it should be noted I'm not saying those are equivlent though. Every few atheists have been killed for being atheists in the history of the US, and we can blend in better.